Bluetooth Beacon NAN Cluster Discovery Power Optimization
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Current Neighbor Aware Networking (NAN) cluster discovery techniques consume significant power, leading to high latency and battery drain in mobile devices, as they require frequent background scans using high-power Wi-Fi radios, which is undesirable for applications requiring low power consumption.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a system where devices use a lower power radio, such as Bluetooth, for communicating discovery beacons and performing background scans, allowing devices to conserve power while maintaining acceptable discovery latency by utilizing scheduling information included in the beacons to synchronize communication during a discovery window.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of time
If background scans are performed frequently to detect NAN clusters, then discovery latency is reduced, but power consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the wireless communication system into two separate radios: a first radio (e.g., Wi-Fi) for high-speed data communication and a second radio (e.g., Bluetooth) for low-power discovery beacons. This segmentation allows each radio to be optimized for its specific function, with the second radio performing background scans at lower power to reduce overall energy consumption while maintaining acceptable discovery latency.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a second radio (Bluetooth) as an intermediary component that handles the discovery beacon transmissions. This intermediary radio operates at lower power levels compared to the primary Wi-Fi radio, thereby reducing the power consumption associated with frequent background scans while still enabling timely cluster discovery through the scheduling information exchanged via beacons.
2Speed
If background scans are performed frequently to detect NAN clusters, then discovery speed is improved, but battery life decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the communication functions between two radios, assigning discovery beacon tasks to the lower-power second radio. This allows the system to maintain fast discovery speeds through efficient beacon scheduling while significantly extending battery life by avoiding continuous high-power Wi-Fi operation during the discovery phase.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the operational parameters by switching from high-power Wi-Fi background scans to lower-power Bluetooth-based beacon transmissions. This parameter change in the radio technology used for discovery enables faster discovery speeds to be achieved with reduced power consumption, thereby extending battery life.
3Reliability
If high-power Wi-Fi radio is used for discovery beacons, then communication reliability is improved, but power consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs a second radio (Bluetooth) as an intermediary for discovery beacon communications. This intermediary radio provides sufficient communication reliability for cluster discovery purposes while consuming significantly less power than the primary Wi-Fi radio, thus resolving the contradiction between reliability and power consumption.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses a lower-power second radio specifically for the temporary discovery beacon transmissions. After the discovery phase completes and devices join the cluster, the system transitions to using the high-power Wi-Fi radio for data communication. This approach accepts that the low-power radio is sufficient for the short-lived discovery phase, optimizing the trade-off between reliability during discovery and power consumption overall.
Data Source
AI summary
Disclosed herein are techniques to enable discovery of a NAN cluster using low-power communication. According to such techniques, a NAN discovery beacon including information indicative of a schedule for communication using a first radio is transmitted using a second radio that utilizes a lower amount of power relative to the first radio.